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Original poster

How old before TV in bedroom?

262 replies

Mummywalsh · 25/04/2011 17:38

My 2.5yo DD1 and 19mo DD2 share a bedroom and MIL has just given us a portable TV with DVD player. I've always been against the girls playing in their rooms and believe they go there to sleep, but now I'm thinking would it be such a bad thing for a quiet DVD in the afternoon, definitely not before bed or otherwise. How old were your LOs before they had a TV in their room?

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usualsuspect · 26/04/2011 18:12

My teenage ds has a tv ,laptop and play-station in his bedroom

KidderminsterKate · 26/04/2011 18:16

what is the problem with TVs in kids rooms?

Mine dont but I wouldnt mind letting them have one if the subject came up. I have one in my room and love watching tv in bed.

duchesse · 26/04/2011 18:16

Crazy notion. Not until they're old enough to earn the money to buy it themselves. Hasn't happened yet in this house. One telly, we have to negotiate (yes, argue talk to each other and everything) over what we watch as a family. All very 1950s I'm sure but it works for us.

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CointreauVersial · 26/04/2011 18:18

I don't like TVs in bedrooms for children.

We have one in the living room, and another in the playroom/den if anyone wants to watch something different.

DS1 (nearly 12) does have his X-Box in his bedroom, though, mainly because we didn't want it dominating the house. But he is strictly limited, and the controls are wireless so confiscation is easy!

The DDs don't have TVs in their rooms, although if they are having a sleepover I will sometimes dig a portable TV/DVD player out of the loft.

We don't have one in our bedroom, because there is no TV reception, and nowhere to put it.

NorthernGobshite · 26/04/2011 18:19

Probably never. I would rather have a seperate 'snug' for her and her friends to use when she is a teenager.

It irks me when children have tv/DVD players in their room. My friend has put a DVD on at bedtime for her child since she was 1!! Hmm

PlopPlopPing · 26/04/2011 18:41

They sound way too young! Don't know why you would be against them playing in there though.

startail · 26/04/2011 18:43

DH is a computer geek, he bought the girls (then 8 and 11) lap tops. The up side of this is that dyslexic DD1 can dictate her homework in peace and do her online maths and art research upstairs. The downside is that she watches twilight, HP and Narnia DVDs when she should be asleep. However, she is even worse with audio books, because she can sneek the litlle CD player under the covers.
DD2 is very good at going to bed at a sensible hour, BUT spends far to much time watching iplayer. Sims and Moshi monsters in moderation I don't mind, But using her laptop to watch CBBC upstairs because I've said to turn the TV in the living room off makes me Angry. Also I can see there being trouble very soon since I wont let her watch Eastenders and I know some of her friends do.
Face-book is banned at the moment, DD1 isn't keen (says there are unpleasant elements at school who do not need encouraging) and DD2 is too young

nokissymum · 26/04/2011 18:46

Never. I just believe bed rooms are for sleeping, or reading.
I also like to know exactly what they watching at all times. Smile

MoChan · 26/04/2011 18:55

Never. I would never have a TV in my own room, either. Don't think it's appropriate for anyone, really.

crystalglasses · 26/04/2011 18:56

Never

Greenwing · 26/04/2011 18:56

Never!
Except, like you we had a portable TV/DVD which we would occasionally carry upstairs for them to watch a DVD as a treat during the daytime during winter holidays - gave us some peace and quiet and was a treat for them, making a next of duvets together and closing curtains, arranging teddies to join in.

Use it occasionally by all means but don't leave in there please!

nometime · 26/04/2011 19:01

Never. We have two tv's, one in the sitting room and one in the play room and that is how it will stay!! Both DH and I very anti TV in bedroom - sorry bee in my bonnet about this one. We all look at enough screens during the course of the day.

startail · 26/04/2011 19:04

I never had a TV in my room as a child, but my bedroom was my world, my haven, my special place. I kept most of my toys there, I played school and hospitals with dolls and with friends there when I was little. I read, coloured, painted and left craft materials "in little pieces all over the floor" as I grew older and did the bare minimum of homework there. And when I was student I slept with my now DH there too!
We lived in a small 3 bed bungalow, the kitchen and lounge dinner of which were pretty small so cluttering them up was liable to cause the mummy monster to snarl, still does even though she's now the grandma monster Wink
She is actually lovely, but my Father generates clutter even quicker than his two DDs did.

ouryve · 26/04/2011 19:04

Not until they're old enough to buy it themselves. We don't even have a TV in our own room. We have one TV and it's in the lounge - it gets turned off at mealtimes, too.

They'll only be allowed to use computers in family areas until they're at least 16, as well.

dreamygirl · 26/04/2011 19:07

Teenagers do need their own space, but there's no law that says they have to be watching TV in it.

One reason I won't let my DCs have one is that when my sister & I were in our early teens my grandfather got us a TV for the room we shared, and we often used to watch late at night when we were meant to be going to sleep. (Makes me laugh to think about it now, the only thing we used to watch really was this very tame old American sitcom - not v rebellious at all! One day they used one of the external shots in another thing we were watching with Mum & my sister pointed it out. The game was up & the TV was removed!)

Fiddledee · 26/04/2011 19:15

TV in bedroom = potential sleep problems, TV is stimulating not relaxing and it may interfere with their sleep - quality and quantity. Sleep experts say never have them in your bedroom.

LaCiccolina · 26/04/2011 19:19

We presently have a tv in most rooms, our own bedroom too. I would suggest, although perhaps I might change my mind by the time its relevant for my little one, that they could have one so long as the door was open and anyone in the family could join in and watch the film with them? And that its at times controlled by you - could you remove the remote control etc when dvd time is over? They seem a bit young yet to be watching any dvd that wasn't already vetted or bought by you so seems a limit to what harm it could really do. A computer would be different....that I think needs to be somewhere easily accessible to everyone.

At the end of the day, if it suits your family do it and hang what any of us think of it!!!

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 26/04/2011 19:20

What makes you think that because a laptop / tv is in the bedroom rather than the living room - the parent doesn't know what the child is watching? Confused

I agree with the poster who said bookcases and desks were important too - both my DSs are voracious readers and also have laptops in their rooms....

candleshoe · 26/04/2011 19:28

I had one at 13 or so but I don't think it was a good thing necessarily. I'll hold out as long as I can with my 3 DC. 18 maybe?

EllenJane1 · 26/04/2011 19:32

Never in our house. We might get a freeview one in the dining room when they are older, as an alternative to the one in the living room. DSs are 13, 11 and 8.

usualsuspect · 26/04/2011 19:39

Not everyone has a playroom or a den or a dining room

Why do people on MN assume we all live in those sort of houses

droopypoppies · 26/04/2011 19:39

DC1 has 2 tv's (only one in use), and a laptop which is used as and when.
DC2 has nothing. DC2 is 2.

Tolalola · 26/04/2011 19:41

I was completely shocked to read somewhere recently that 1 in 5 children aged 4 has a telly in their bedrom in the UK.

I am completely anti and mine will never have telly in their room. Neither do we. We have one in the sitting room.

EllenJane1 · 26/04/2011 19:43

usual, if we didn't have a dining room, then it would still be 'no' in the bedroom.

bigTillyMint · 26/04/2011 19:43

Melly DD finds it easier to concentrate there.

Also it cuts down on the bickering between her and DSWink

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